Euro 2026

During the time period of August 1st to 12th, my family and I (excluding my mom) went on an Europe trip, exploring Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. We were also supposed to go to Croatia and Switzerland, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

The first day in Italy was spent entirely in Rome. It was the same day we landed, and at this point, I was refreshed because I had slept for 1 hour on the plane, thinking it would be enough. It would not be.

So we met up with family, then they took us to eat. It was about 11 in the morning, and on the plane they had only given us a yogurt and piece of sweet bread for breakfast, so it’s not an overstatement when I say I was completely starving.

We ate some rice, then headed out for city center.

We first went to Piazza Navona, essentially a plaza with a couple fountains and a Washington Monument-like thing in the middle. Nothing too fancy.

Next, it was the Pantheon, and this is where things got fun.

Since it was the first Sunday of the month, everything was free in Rome, so we went inside the Pantheon for free. It was massive. Like, 10, 20 story apartment building massive. In height. The pantheon is essentially just a massive temple with a really high, domed ceiling and statues of different Christian gods and deities all around. Originally though, they were statutes of Roman gods until a Christian pillaging and the conversion of the pantheon to a church.

It was about 40 degrees at this point, so after we exited, I asked for ice cream. And luckily, there happened to be one right next to the pantheon.

Now something you should know about Italy is that they have almost unlimited flavours of ice cream. You have the regular vanilla and mango, but there’s also exotic fruit, tropical, and more like that.

I got the exotic fruit one, and they made it in the shape of a rose. It was actually really impressive, how they did it. They topped the ice cream with a macaron of the same flavor. That was probably the best ice cream I’d ever had in my life.

The next destination was the trevi fountain, which was genuinely breathtaking. It was a marble building with sculptures of the Roman gods in front of it. And a massive fountain, with tropical-looking water, which is where the landmark got its name.

Finally, we went to the colosseum, where we didn’t get to go inside because it was closed, but we just witnessed the colossity of the colosseum. It was also sunset, which enchanted and enhanced the experience by a hundredfold.

We drank some iced tea as well.

it was about 8 or 9 at this point, so I was tired. Actually, I was completely and utterly exhausted. I was running on an hour of sleep. But unfortunately for me, it wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

we went to eat, and by the time we were out, it was about 10 or 11. But now, we went to Vatican City to see the massive basilica where the pope comes out and gives his speeches. Honestly, it’s underwhelming. And by the time we got there, it was 12 in the morning and I just needed to sleep.

We spent some time there and went to the hotel to sleep. That day, I clocked about 10k steps, because we only used the car to get from the colosseum to the restaurant to Vatican City.

The day still wasn’t over. I needed to shower before going to bed. About halfway through, I realized that there was an absolutely MASSIVE wasp just on the glass in the shower and genuinely just DASHED out of the shower. Then I murdered the pest.

The next day, I woke up completely discombobulated, disoriented, exhausted and sleepy to a phone ringing. It was the rest of my family, calling to see where the hell I was because it was 9 in the morning and we were supposed to all be downstairs eating breakfast.

Now, unlike most people, I didn’t have a massive adrenaline rush and jump out of bed, but rather I rolled over, screamed into my pillow, and slept for 5 more minutes before freshening up.

Downstairs, I ate eggs, a bunch of breads, cereal with yogurt, and other stuff. I was hungry but sleepy. So when I got back to the room… I slept again.

Then I was told that we were leaving for Florence in 15 minutes

So I packed up, watched a quick NBA highlight reel, and left the hotel.

For some quick context, Florence is the art central of Italy, and two hours away from the hotel. I slept the entire way there.

when we arrived, it was 41 degrees Celsius and searing, with no parking close to where we needed to go, which was city center. We drove around for about half an hour before finding one 20 minutes away. I got one shade blacker while walking to the attractions.

In Florence, it was mainly statues of David and Roman gods. They were actually really lifelike. Realistic muscle grooves, curly hair texture, and facial features, as well as others. I don’t know how they did that back then, but they managed somehow.

There were also really nice churches. Like, I’m talking five to six story building height, about the size of three or four regular churches combined, maybe even more. And the outside details were just… 😤. They covered every square inch with some sort of carving or marble design.

And there was one in particular that was the height of a fifteen story building, covering about a block or two. You could see it from almost anywhere in Florence. Its name was Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

There was also a market on the water, Ponte Vecchio, that had a lot of jewelry shops and provided shade from the 41 degree Celsius sun. It wasn’t really impressive but it was cool.

Florence was also where Gucci was born. There was an original Gucci museum as well as a massive fashion street with nearly every single big brand ever (Nike excepted). Also the prices there were bigger than the brands, almost twice or three times that in Canada.

After Florence, we went to a small country called San Marino, where there’s a mountain 2425 feet tall. And we climbed it. At least, only a third of the way, so about 700-800 feet. Either way, the view from there is beautiful. And since we were there at night, all the city lights were on and… well it was nice.

We got some ice cream too. Their special twist to it was that they added whipped cream on top, which I never saw before, but honestly it was revolting. The actual ice cream was amazing though. Mango and strawberry flavored.

Finally, the last leg of the days journey, we headed to Ancona, where we were staying for the rest of the trip. By the time we got there, it was about 1am in the morning. I just slept.

The next morning I woke up at 12. There wasn’t much planned for the day, at least that’s what I thought. I ate, then went to my room to doomscroll when I heard a basketball outside. Now, I was bored, so I genuinely dashed outside to the court next to the house. There was a black guy, around 15 or 16, just dribbling and shooting around.

There was a language barrier, but in basketball, there are a couple common phrases, such as 1v1. So we played one on one, and I got kind of fried. In my defense, I had no warmup while he had about 30 minutes, he was older than me and he was taller than me.

I think the final score was like 21-17 or something.

That same day, we went to the dockyard where my granduncle worked. It was a yacht building place with three companies where he was the director of painting, meaning he controlled the painting jobs for all three companies. At the time I went, there were 4 to 5 megayachts in production, and they had at least 4 storeys, were 60ish meters long, and genuinely just massive. He got us access to all the finished yachts as well, which were actually really nice. They were like modern houses but on the water. The nicest part was probably the captains room, and I say that because the design was just so clean, the screens were just like panels, and the ambience was top tier.

The next day was spent doing nothing. It was above 41 degrees outside, so I just spent the day walking around, playing video games, and reading.

On August 6th, we went to Venice by high speed train. Once again, it was 40 degrees, but since we were close to water (Venice being a canal city), it was a bit better.

The architecture there was also stunning. The buildings, though next to the water, looked like they had been on dry land the entire time, meaning there was zero water residue on it. There were also designs everywhere on the buildings, similar to Florence’s churches. And the canals were really unique. It was like New York, but no high-rises, and every city block, instead of being surrounded by roads, were surrounded by canals.

The water itself was extremely dirty and green.

Additionally, everything there was way overpriced.

We spent around two or three hours walking around until it got too hot and we just stayed in the train station for the next hour.

The sixth day into our trip, we went to a cave called Grotto di Frassasi, which means Cave of Frassasi. The thing special about here was that there were stalactites and stalagmites made of ice, so it was essentially an ice cave. It was estimated that it took more than two millions years to form, though the rocks in it were more than 190 million years old. And it was, like many thing in italy, really big. Scientists estimated that the entire Milan cathedral (5th largest church in the world) could fit in it. For reference, it can fit about 130 houses.

It was actually kind of warm in the cave, 14 degrees, which was surprising because the entire cave is essentially covered in ice.

The thing was, we were supposed to go with an english tour guide, but we missed our time slot and had to go with an italian one, which was inanely frustrating because all I could hear was a female Mario talking.

It really didn’t matter. We came to see the cave.

After that, we went shopping. My grandaunt really wanted to buy me something, so I decided… why not? I got some shoes for my cousin, and then… I got me some Jordan 4s.

That was my last day in Italy. The next, we hopped on a train to the airport and flew to Germany. Bonn, to be exact.

the first day there, we met with our relatives who stayed there. They were our tour guides for the next four days.

in Bonn, we visited the Rhine park, which was actually beautiful, right next to the rhine river, and I climbed into a hollow globe statue there. Then a mountain with a really old church on it. We also went to Hohenzollern Bridge, which is famous for having a bunch of locks on it, dating back from about 1960. I actually found one from that time period. We also went to a university, and their tech was pretty advanced, like window shades that follow the sun.

The next day, we went on a massive road trip. We departed Bonn and headed for the Netherlands, where we stopped to eat. Then we were off to Belgium, Mons to be exact. There, we arrived around evening, so we explored a bit, checking out the UN building, a landmark, and a really nice park.

the next day, we went to eat some of the best Belgian waffles with Belgian chocolate EVER. Then we explored the city, which was really, really small, went to some parks, then headed for Paris.

Once there, it was pure insanity. Never drive in Paris, because there are genuinely no lanes and no rules. You drive to survive. There was one roundabout around the arc of triomphe where there were twelve exits. Better to walk.

but once we finally got past that, we now had to walk in 40 degree weather to the Eiffel Tower. About halfway there, we realized it was too hot to do anything, so we decided to go shopping instead.

I got 2 customized tshirts.

Then we ate at a Turkish restaurant before heading back to the Eiffel Tower. On the road, the view was actually really nice!

Once there, my dad and I went to the ticket booth to get some tickets to go to the top. The mistake we made was that we went too early. You see, the Eiffel Tower is known for its night views, but we went at around 7. It didn’t really matter though.

So we lined up for the elevator, and it was around this time that I started doubting the safety of the elevator. I mean, this “tower” was essentially a bunch of metal rods glued together.

So I googled it and it said that it was pretty safe. Sure, ok. I’m just gonna pray for my safety before heading up.

but it was really cool. The elevators were retro but modern at the same time, and the entire thing is essentially glass, so you can see all around you. The machinery was insane. And the city view was even better.

It took us about an hour to get to the top because of lines, so the sun had started setting. And this is where things got good, because we got to see the sun set from the Eiffel Tower, and we also saw all the city lights turn on. It was majestic.